The Witch Maker by Sally Spencer Read Free Book Online

investigation’s over. Which will mean you won’t be allowed in here at all, and there’ll be no bloody witch to burn!’
    Dimdyke gave him a gaze which would have turned a lesser man to stone, and made even Woodend start to wobble.
    â€˜If I was you, I’d think twice before I started threatenin’ somethin’ like the Witch Burnin’,’ he said.
    â€˜H ... help him, Dad!’ the girl said, speaking for the first time. ‘All he w ... wants to do is find out who killed Uncle Harry. H ... help him!’
    Dimdyke looked thoughtfully at his daughter for a moment, then turned to Woodend and said, ‘All right, what do you want to know?’
    â€˜I’ve already told you. I want to know about your brother’s movements last night.’
    Dimdyke shrugged. ‘He would have been here. The Witch Maker never leaves the Witch alone in the week before the Burnin’.’
    â€˜What about you?’ Woodend asked Wilf Dimdyke. ‘Were you here as well?’
    The young man nodded. ‘Yes.’
    â€˜All night?’
    â€˜No. I stayed until about half past eleven, then I went to the Black Bull for a couple of pints.’
    â€˜You’re not lyin’ to me, are you?’
    â€˜My lad doesn’t lie!’ Tom Dimdyke said angrily.
    â€˜But the pub would have been closed by then,’ Woodend pointed out.
    â€˜No it wouldn’t,’ Tom Dimdyke said. ‘It’s thirsty work bein’ the Assistant Witch Maker – an’ the pub doesn’t close until he’s slaked it.’
    â€˜An’ bugger the licensin’ laws?’ Woodend asked, interestedly.
    â€˜There’s laws an’ laws,’ Tom Dimdyke said. ‘In this village we know which ones matter – and which ones don’t.’
    â€˜It doesn’t work that way,’ Woodend explained. ‘Nobody gets to choose the laws they’ll follow an’ the ones they’ll ignore.’
    â€˜Yes, they do – at least in Hallerton,’ Dimdyke said with certainty. ‘What do you think the Witch Burnin’ is all about, if it’s not to show that some things are above the law?’
    â€˜Well, your ancestors certainly seem to have had that attitude,’ Woodend agreed. ‘They disregarded the law – but they also paid the price!’
    â€˜An’ not just th ... them,’ said the girl, with a sudden fierceness. ‘We’re s ... still payin’ for what they did, even now. An’ we always
w ... will
.’
    Even without the stutter, it would have been hard to say for certain whether her voice was full of anger or full of pride, Woodend thought. Perhaps it was a little of both.
    â€˜So the last time you saw your uncle was at about half past eleven?’ the Chief Inspector said, returning his attention to Wilf Dimdyke.
    â€˜That’s right.’
    â€˜An’ you didn’t notice anybody suspicious hangin’ about when you left?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜He wouldn’t!’ Tom Dimdyke said. ‘They’re far too sneaky to be seen if they don’t want to be.’
    â€˜Who’s too sneaky?’
    â€˜The fairground folk.’
    â€˜You think one of them’s the killer?’
    â€˜Who else could it have been?’ Tom Dimdyke asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

Seven
    T he Green was a great deal quieter than it had been earlier in the day. The body had been removed in an ambulance, and then, no doubt as a result, the crowd had drifted away. Looking at the barriers fencing off a large section of the area – and at the two uniformed constables who were patrolling them – a newly arrived visitor might well have been forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about.
    Woodend surveyed the scene himself, then turned and fixed his gaze on the Black Bull.
    â€˜I think we’ve all earned a drink,’ he told Sergeant Paniatowski and Constable